So the Twilight phenomenon gets talked about a lot. I don’t want to get into the debate about how unhealthy and ridiculous the relationship between Bella and Edward is. Or about how the literary value of the books is…not great. Or about the movies complete over use of heinous wigs. (Well maybe I do want to talk about that, Alice’s wig in the first movie was awful. There isn’t a word that describes how disgusting that filthy platypus pelt was.)

Anyway, regardless of your feelings about the artistic value of the books or the movies, the franchise had a major effect on culture. It wasn’t the first series to romanticize vampires, or to play out angsty bad decisions by teenagers. The books are incredibly readable though, and compelling enough that you don’t want to put them down. Anna Karenina may be a great novel but it’s a snoozefest (sorry Tolstoy). The movies have some major flaws, or they at least point out some of the flaws that you can overlook when you’re just skimming a page. But who cares? It’s an epic love triangle (quadrangle when you add in the hybrid child). There is sweeping music and big battles. It’s fun, hell I watched the second movie just to see Taylor Lautner be mostly naked.

I do think we should all thank our lucky stars that Stephanie Meyer decided to stop writing the series after her planned version of the first book from Edward’s point of view was leaked. That story might have made the films richer, but most likely it would have led to the studios getting richer by capitalizing on the popularity of the books and making more unnecessary films for us to watch. And I don’t know if it’s because of Twilight or not, but young adult novels (and series) being turned into major films is kind of a trend right now and that could be a really good thing. The Hunger Games is a great series, and while I have issues with the hair in that franchise too, the movie holds up. Beautiful Creatures looks like a great film and there are few more on the horizon I can’t even think of right now. It’s a good time to be a fan of fiction.